Yesterday we arrived into Nice and was met by a driver from Grand Prix Adventures and taken to our hotel. It is an older hotel but right near the old town of Nice and has a nice balcony and between the beach and train station. We did a walkabout and Nice seems so different than when Nate and I were here 13 years ago. It seems cleaner with renovated beautifully maintained parks with a new electric train that runs through the long park which has lovely dancing fountains and children's play areas. We explored and enjoyed dinner in the old town area. We promptly crashed in our beds by 9 p.m., having only slept a couple hours on the plane flight out.
We all woke around 2:30 a.m. our time and then fell back asleep around 3:30 not to wake until around 11 a.m.!!! My heavens it was liked we were drugged...which we kind of were, come to think of it. I did take a Benadryl around 3 a.m. ;) We showered and headed to the train station. We grabbed a sandwich to go and boarded the train to Monaco with hundreds of others. It was incredible to see Monaco as one big race venue. All the streets were covered in chainlink keeping people out and Formula 1 cars in. We found our spot which was at the Shangrila. I was expecting a hotel but apparently this is an apartment complex and when we excited the 9th floor elevator we entered right into an apartment with a spectacular view of the track. It made me think how at the Kemper Open in MD when I was growing up people would rent out their lawns for people to park and make enough to pay for the kids' educations. Here people rent out their patios and apartments. This place belonged to a friendly elderly woman and there was about 20 of us on there balcony, room for everyone where we could see all of the race course but one corner. It was an incredible view and really exciting once the cars were out on the track. Really exciting to see the cars pull out of the pits and rip onto the track/street and hear the roar of their engines.
We had a good view of two of the megatrons too and so could keep track of the liter board and also had a big screen inside of the house if we wanted to come in and sit down. The cars were racing for the top 10 spots which will secure their position in the final race tomorrow. There were 3 qualifiers today and just one big 78 lap race tomorrow. Lunch was served and it was fascinating to talk to one gentleman that races cars and to get all the low down on how they race, how the qualifiers work and what are the top speeds and some info about the drivers. Top 10 drivers will have placement tomorrow as they race around the tight and small track which takes around 1.3 mins per lap with top speeds around 155 kmph.
After the qualifiers we walked around Monaco. It is such a beautiful city/country. It is so clean and well maintained with many new stores in modern designed buildings around the Grand Casino that weren't there over a decade ago and beautiful shopping streets and the whole city is like a car show. Sam was freaking out with all the incredible cars- every 10th car, and I am not exaggerating, was a Ferrari. The nicest one we saw, pointed out to us by Sam, was Koenigsegg Ccxr Edition. It's top speed is over 250 mph and costs $2,500,000!! It was hilarious, all of a sudden everyone whipped out their cameras. A kid goes running into the street and takes a front on shot of it and then another kid runs across the street while it is parked and snapping photos. Sam then makes his moves and is a bit more respectful but can't help himself and snaps some pictures. We saw millions of dollars worth of cars today between the Formula 1s on the track and the Mazzeratis, Ferraris and Koenigegg we saw just cruising around town. We walked around 8 miles today all over Monaco and then explored old town and the marina area in Nice. We landed at a great Italian restaurant in a charming alleyway in old town of Nice and had the most fabulous double sided prosciutto arugula pizza for dinner. Nate and Sam went looking for gelato and I made my way back to the hotel to rest my feet. Fun day exploring and had a great time at our first Formula 1 race.
We all woke around 2:30 a.m. our time and then fell back asleep around 3:30 not to wake until around 11 a.m.!!! My heavens it was liked we were drugged...which we kind of were, come to think of it. I did take a Benadryl around 3 a.m. ;) We showered and headed to the train station. We grabbed a sandwich to go and boarded the train to Monaco with hundreds of others. It was incredible to see Monaco as one big race venue. All the streets were covered in chainlink keeping people out and Formula 1 cars in. We found our spot which was at the Shangrila. I was expecting a hotel but apparently this is an apartment complex and when we excited the 9th floor elevator we entered right into an apartment with a spectacular view of the track. It made me think how at the Kemper Open in MD when I was growing up people would rent out their lawns for people to park and make enough to pay for the kids' educations. Here people rent out their patios and apartments. This place belonged to a friendly elderly woman and there was about 20 of us on there balcony, room for everyone where we could see all of the race course but one corner. It was an incredible view and really exciting once the cars were out on the track. Really exciting to see the cars pull out of the pits and rip onto the track/street and hear the roar of their engines.
We had a good view of two of the megatrons too and so could keep track of the liter board and also had a big screen inside of the house if we wanted to come in and sit down. The cars were racing for the top 10 spots which will secure their position in the final race tomorrow. There were 3 qualifiers today and just one big 78 lap race tomorrow. Lunch was served and it was fascinating to talk to one gentleman that races cars and to get all the low down on how they race, how the qualifiers work and what are the top speeds and some info about the drivers. Top 10 drivers will have placement tomorrow as they race around the tight and small track which takes around 1.3 mins per lap with top speeds around 155 kmph.
After the qualifiers we walked around Monaco. It is such a beautiful city/country. It is so clean and well maintained with many new stores in modern designed buildings around the Grand Casino that weren't there over a decade ago and beautiful shopping streets and the whole city is like a car show. Sam was freaking out with all the incredible cars- every 10th car, and I am not exaggerating, was a Ferrari. The nicest one we saw, pointed out to us by Sam, was Koenigsegg Ccxr Edition. It's top speed is over 250 mph and costs $2,500,000!! It was hilarious, all of a sudden everyone whipped out their cameras. A kid goes running into the street and takes a front on shot of it and then another kid runs across the street while it is parked and snapping photos. Sam then makes his moves and is a bit more respectful but can't help himself and snaps some pictures. We saw millions of dollars worth of cars today between the Formula 1s on the track and the Mazzeratis, Ferraris and Koenigegg we saw just cruising around town. We walked around 8 miles today all over Monaco and then explored old town and the marina area in Nice. We landed at a great Italian restaurant in a charming alleyway in old town of Nice and had the most fabulous double sided prosciutto arugula pizza for dinner. Nate and Sam went looking for gelato and I made my way back to the hotel to rest my feet. Fun day exploring and had a great time at our first Formula 1 race.
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